Four of the National Resource Centers housed at the Jackson School offer the opportunity for UW students across all three campuses to apply for Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships. FLAS funding allows for the study modern foreign languages in less commonly taught languages of national priority and area or international studies competencies.
Brian Park in Japan
“The FLAS Summer Fellowship has allowed me to attend the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies (IUC) in Yokohama, Japan where I took advanced Japanese language courses,” said Brian Park, a doctoral student in the UW History Department with a focus on modern Korean and Japanese history. He received a FLAS (Summer 2023) in Japanese from the East Asia Center. “This experience has prepared me with the language skills I need for my research on the history of Korean businesses in Japan after World War II.”
Amelia Ossario, who is earning a bachelor’s degree in Middle East Studies at the Jackson School with a minor in Art History, received a FLAS (Academic Year 2022-2023) in Persian from the South Asia Center: “FLAS has supported my intermediate and advanced Persian studies, providing language training that has been vital for my volunteer work at my professor’s non-profit organization, Peyvand, that supports Iranian and Persian-speaking families in Seattle,” she said.
Amelia Ossario
In Spring 2023, Ossario also created an informational poster about the Persian New Year (Nowruz) in collaboration with Peyvand and the King County Library System that was displayed in seven major KCLS library locations, as well as the Washington State Capitol building.
University of Washington FLAS Program Statistics 2022-2023:
FLAS grants were awarded to four National Resource Centers in the Jackson School:
- Canadian Studies Center
- Center for Southeast Asia and its Diasporas
- East Asia Center
- South Asia Center
A total of 52 FLAS fellowships were awarded at the UW in the 2022-2023 academic year, including summer 2023. This represents over $1.2 million in funds.
Students who received a fellowship represented 10 schools and colleges, namely:
- College of Arts and Sciences (18 departments)
- College of Education
- College of the Environment
- Evans School of Public Policy and Governance
- Graduate School Interdisciplinary Programs
- Michael G. Foster School of Business
- School of Law
- School of Public Health
- School of Social Work
- The Information School
A total of 14 languages were awarded FLAS Fellowships in 2022-2023:
- Chinese
- French
- Haida
- Hindi
- Indonesian
- Japanese
- Khmer
- Korean
- Nuu-chah-nulth
- Persian
- Tagalog
- Thai
- Urdu
- Vietnamese
